


a moment in life

by WendigoBaby



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Adoption, Introspection, M/M, Short & Sweet, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, bits and bobs of everything, malec being dads
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2019-01-15 07:24:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12316479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WendigoBaby/pseuds/WendigoBaby
Summary: Magnus has always taken care of the people he loves, his warlocks and other Downworlders in need, his friends, his family. But he hasn’t considered children of his own, that option never there in the first place and yet.They’re gonna be parents. He still can’t believe it.





	a moment in life

The ticking of the clock is the only sound in the grey hall where Magnus and Alec sit in uncomfortable plastic chairs. The place vaguely reminds Magnus of an Institute - it’s bland and almost dreary in its neutral tones, where the smallest noise is expected to have an echo. Someone has made an effort to brighten up the place by setting out a couple bouquets of cheap flowers, now dusted over and looking even more miserable.

 

Magnus glances down at his loosely twined hands, the rings on his fingers reflecting the bright halogen lights from above. They haven’t been waiting for that long, maybe twenty or so minutes, but it feels like much more. Magnus has learned patience over his years, so he sits calmly, takes off an invisible piece of lint from his grey suit pants.

 

Alec, on the other hand, is visibly anxious. He sits for a moment only to stand back up, his right hand shaking like he’s trying to get the anxiety off of him, sticky and unrelenting. Magnus’ eyes follow him as he wanders over to the sad flowers to pick up a leaflet with some smiling face on the cover. Without opening it, he sets it back down, crosses his arms, uncrosses them again, sighs.

 

It pains Magnus to watch his husband drift from one point to another, hair ruffled from restless touching, messy spikes glowing in the light. Alec wrings his hands together, fingers twisting at unnatural angles and Magnus stands, the heavy weight of uneasiness settling in his stomach just at the very sight of Alec worrying. Magnus takes Alec’s hands in his, squeezes them to get his attention and to stop him from breaking his own bones.

 

“Hey. Just breathe, okay?” Magnus says with a small smile and it works like magic. Alec draws in a slow breath, his shoulders drop, there’s a hint of breathless laughter.

 

“Yeah, yeah, it’s just so… We’ve been waiting for this moment so long and it’s happening _now_.” Alec half-whispers, trying not to disturb the pressing quiet of the corridor.

 

Magnus nods, about to answer, but then the door at the end of the hall opens.

 

A woman dressed like an office worker peers out, her hair pulled back into a tight bun, but her smile is warm.

 

“Misters Magnus and Alexander Lightwood-Bane?”

 

“Yes.” Alec breathes out and they walk over eagerly. She greets them with firm handshakes, then disappears into the room for a minute. Now Magnus understands - sixty seconds feel stretched-out and twice as long, even though his heartbeat measures it out perfectly.

 

When she comes out again, it’s with a bundle in her arms, a white blanket that keeps moving in her careful hold. Magnus’ heart is now in his throat as she hands it over to him and he sees the chubby little face of their child for the first time.

 

“Congratulations.” She says kindly, then leaves, but neither of the men pay much attention to her. With his chest pressed against Magnus’ shoulder, Alec reaches with one finger to stroke the baby’s cheek, who gurgles happily and kicks in the blanket. When Magnus looks up at him, there are unshed tears brimming his eyes, stuck to his long eyelashes and threatening to fall at any moment.

 

“Hi, Edith, nice to meet you.” Alec chokes out when the little girl grabs his finger and squeezes as hard as she can which is not at all.

 

“Our little Edie.” Magnus hums, the anxiety from before overtaken by pride, happiness, something bright and beautiful between his ribs.

 

She’s tiny, but full of strength. When they heard about a warlock breeding farm discovered and taken over by one of the European Institutes, the decision was simple. There were children who needed loving homes and they were people who had a home and a lot of love to offer. And now, she’s here, one of Magnus’ kind, born out of something terrible and non-consensual, but pure and innocent herself.

 

After everything Magnus has lived through, his own childhood is forever a red-tinted memory, one that has haunted him for so long; it still lingers on the darkest nights, but never as prominent as it used to. No matter how many hundreds of years it has been since, the pictures in his mind never fade - the keris and his mother’s blood is vivid, his step-father’s voice booming and filled to the brim with disgust.

 

Magnus won’t let history repeat. She will have everything he didn’t, safety and support and love.

 

With Alec cooing softly at their daughter, Magnus promises her that she will never have to be afraid of herself. He’ll do anything for her to be able to keep her head high and with pride in who she is, to teach her that magic should never be a vice but a strength she can rely on in hard times.

 

He swallows the lump in his throat, Alec’s palm against his back a familiar presence.

 

Magnus has always taken care of the people he loves, his warlocks and other Downworlders in need, his friends, his family. But he hasn’t considered children of his own, that option never there in the first place and yet.

 

They’re gonna be _parents_. He still can’t believe it.

 

Alec leans closer, his eye-crinkling smile warm like the sun. They hold each other’s gaze and Magnus knows they’re thinking the same thing, feeling the same kind of elation, this joy too big to express and almost painful in its intensity.

 

Magnus smiles back, presses a soft kiss against Alec’s lips.

 

“Let’s go home.”

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me at [tumblr](https://maghnvsbane.tumblr.com/)!! x


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